


the one where gemma gets a roomate

by onedirectioninthetardis



Series: I'll Be There For You [1]
Category: Friends, One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M, friends crossover, larry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-08 04:27:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3195296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onedirectioninthetardis/pseuds/onedirectioninthetardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which louis is rachel, harry is ross, niall is phoebe, liam is joey, zayn is chandler, and gemma is monica.</p><p>they're all friends.</p><p>(i won't be using specific episodes as ideas per se, but some of the general dynamics might be similar)</p>
            </blockquote>





	the one where gemma gets a roomate

**Author's Note:**

> this will be a series of one shots that i'll write when i can or when i feel inspired :) most of them will probably be a few chapters per one shot, and most likely they won't really "go together" it'll be like random short stories with the same characters. i'm super excited about this, though. put an [ask in my box](http://harryisproudoflouis.tumblr.com/ask) if you have requests for prompts since it's all very versatile!

“Okay,” Gemma squinted at Liam, “So you did sleep with her?”  
  
He rolled his eyes, shaking his head, “No. You’ve got to let me finish.” Liam sat up in his chair, balancing on the edge as he gestured, “So, I take a cab to her place, right? And it was great in the car. It was hot and heavy; she was in my lap the whole time.”  
  
“Skip to the punchline, bro,” Zayn chuckled under his breath while sipping on his tea. “We’re all falling asleep here.”  
  
“Pipe it,” Liam retorted, “Anyway, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, we got back to her place, and the second she opened the door, I literally just got a whiff of cat piss.”  
  
They all groaned in disgust together. Gemma sat up and set her mug on the coffee table, “And that is why I don’t have pets.”  
  
“You don’t have pets because you’d be following them around with a vacuum,” Niall teased, mimicking using a vacuum and making a vrooming noise. “Cleaning up it’s tracks in the carpet twenty-four seven.”  
  
“Alright now,” Gemma gritted her teeth. “Let the poor lad finish his fascinating story.”  
  
Everyone turned back to Liam, none of them genuinely interested, but bored nonetheless.  
  
“Well, there’s not that much more to it,” he shrugged. “It was one cat after another, after another, and it was too much pussy in all the wrong places.”  
  
Gemma groaned as Liam laughed at his own pun, “You’re a pig.”  
  
“Oh come on,” he snorted, “You know it’s funny.”  
  
Gemma just rolled her eyes and collected the few empty mugs that surrounded them, carrying them up to the counter carefully.  
  
“Harry,” she smiled at her brother, raising her brows hopefully, “We need refills.”  
  
Harry wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, brushing some of the hair out of his face, “Jesus, it’s been crazy in here, yeah?”  
  
Gemma glanced around and nodded, “Yeah, you’ve gotten good business today.”  
  
Harry filled the mugs with fresh coffee and hot water respectively, leaning against the counter for a moment, “I’m going to have to hire some help before you know it.”  
  
“Yeah, you will,” Gemma winked and leaned over to ruffle her brother’s hair. “I’m proud of you.”  
  
Harry wiped down the counter and pretended not to be flattered, “Thanks sis. Anyone want something to eat over there?”  
  
“I don’t know,” Gemma sighed. “I think Liam’s a bit sick. He’s been spewing nonsense for the past twenty minutes.”  
  
“Sounds like Liam,” Harry teased. “Hey, I’ve gotta clean up back here, but I’ll join you all when I close shop.”  
  
Gemma nodded and carried the filled cups back to her friends.  
  
She really was proud of her brother. He’d been through a lot since they moved to the city. He rushed into a relationship that Gemma predicted the demise of from the get go. She knew her brother was a sensitive guy. He got attached a bit too quickly, and gave his whole heart at a time.  
  
When Ashton left him for his high school sweetheart, Harry was heartbroken and in reality, Gemma knew he still was. She knew he had planned on proposing and wouldn’t put it past him to have already bought a ring and planned half of their wedding. Gemma decided straight away that she’d never forgive Ashton. She thought that he should feel lucky that Australia was so damn far away, because she honestly thought about killing him sometimes.  
  
The only thing keeping him occupied was _The Rolling Scones_ , which was the bakery he opened a month after the break-up. Gemma was glad it had taken off like it had.  
  
When Gemma returned to the couch and few chairs littered around the coffee table, the conversation was on the same path.  
  
“Well, of course I’m going on another date with her,” Liam snickered. “We’ll just go back to my place instead of hers this time.”  
  
“Christ, Li,” Zayn winced from the center of the couch, “You can’t start relationship with someone when you know it’s not going to work out.”  
  
“Relationship?” Liam laughed, “Who said anything about a relationship?”  
  
Everyone scoffed and turned their attention back to other things. Niall sat back in his chair, flipping the page of his book and sighing.  
  
“Listen to this,” he cleared his throat as everyone perks up. “‘Babies cannot taste salt until they’re four months old because their kidneys cannot process sodium until that age.’ That’s so sad! That means they can’t taste like all of the best foods. Chips and crisps. Good lord, they can’t taste Harry’s salted caramels!”  
  
Zayn looked around in bewilderment and rested his hands on his knees, “Well, I’m going to ignore the obvious question of ‘why Niall is reading baby books’, and skip ahead to the other obvious thing, which is that babies don’t eat those things, you bloody idiot.”  
  
Niall’s eyes widened and he shrugged, “How would I know that if I don’t have any children?”  
  
Everyone just shook their heads, deciding that it was a rhetorical question, whether it was meant that way or not.  
  
The monotonous silence was interrupted by the door swinging open and hitting the wall. Gemma’s head popped up and she really didn’t believe her eyes. No, it couldn’t be. She couldn’t be looking at Louis Tomlinson in a soaked suit, his shirt undone and his expression filled with distress. She really couldn’t be seeing that.  
  
“Louis?” She said anyway, too quietly for the man in the doorway to hear. It couldn’t really be him, but it surely seemed like it.  
  
It was funny, really, because according to her mother’s constant hometown updates, Gemma was pretty sure that Louis was supposed to be getting married today. In fact, she was definitely sure of it, because her mum had called again just that morning to remind her. She didn’t know why she needed the reminder when she wasn’t even invited, but nonetheless, Louis was absolutely supposed to be getting married.  
  
That’s when Gemma connected the suit and the date and the distress on his face.  
  
She stood up and crossed the room quickly, tapping the petite and confused man on the arm.  
  
“Louis,” she repeated her self, audibly this time. “What are you doing here?”  
  
He sobbed shortly and pulled her into a hug, a sopping, crushing hug that Gemma didn’t exactly reciprocate straight away. It’s not like Louis made it very possible, squeezing her arms next to her sides.  
  
“Oh my god, Gem,” he muttered, loosening his grasp. “I tried your buzzer, but no one answered, and I was just going to come down here to get a cuppa and call you, but here you are. I’m so glad to see you.”  
  
Gemma finally hugged back when her arms were released enough to do so, “I’m... glad to see you too.” Louis rested his head on Gemma’s shoulder and took a deep breath. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” Gemma added. “But, I’ve got to ask again: What are you doing here?”  
  
Louis sniffed and let Gemma go, glancing around the unfamiliar cafe instead of answering, “This place is kind of cute. It’s nice having it so close to you, huh?”  
  
Gemma gulped and followed behind Louis as he approached the counter, still avoiding Gemma’s question.  
  
“Erm,” Gemma mumbled, “Well, you remember my brother Harry-“  
  
“Harry!” Louis exclaimed when he noticed the younger lad behind the counter.  
  
Gemma was about 99% sure that Harry would have dropped the coffee pot he was holding if it weren’t so close to the countertop.  
  
“Of course I remember Harry,” Louis smiled overbearingly. “How could I forget your lovely kid brother?”  
  
Harry just stood there, gripping the coffee pot until his knuckles turned white, gaping at the man he never thought he’d have to see again.  
  
“Well, my _kid_ brother is the owner of this bakery,” Gemma grinned proudly.  
  
“Nice job, mate,” Louis nodded. “Do you serve alcohol here by any chance?”  
  
Harry gazed at Gemma, completely dumbfounded. He cleared his throat, but his sister jumped in to rescue him, “No, love. It’s a bakery cafe.”  
  
Louis grinned solemnly, “It was worth a shot.”  
  
Harry started to laugh then, a little too hard, and seemingly for no reason.  
  
“What’s so funny?” Louis sighed, obviously in mellow contemplative thought.  
  
“It’s just,” Harry mumbled, thinking he was a complete idiot for saying anything at all. “You asked for alcohol and said...It was worth a _shot_. Get it?”  
  
Louis smiled quite sarcastically and nodded, “Yeah, usually the person with the punchline... Get’s the punchline.”  
  
Harry closed his mouth immediately, the chuckles fading out quickly as he simply turned on his heels and pretended to be hard at work.  
  
Gemma rolled her eyes, having forgotten just how snarky Louis could be. It’d be easy for anyone to forget after not seeing him for three years.  
  
“You can come sit down,” Gemma suggested, leading Louis to the couch. “These are the rest of the group.”  
  
Louis followed Gemma and sat smack dab in the middle of the couch, forcing Liam to scoot over. The group of them had watched Louis and Gemma ever since he had arrived, so when they came back, they were obviously trying to act busy in conversation.  
  
“No,” Niall said, a bit flustered, “That’s completely wrong. The hottest member of The Beatles was definitely Ringo.”  
  
And that got everyone’s attention. The group of them, including Louis stared at him blankly.  
  
“Wait a second,” Zayn blinked rapidly. “Um, what?”  
  
“Yeah,” Niall shrugged, flipping back through his unusual baby book. “Ringo’s the hottest.”  
  
“To each his own, then,” Louis teased, sitting back on the couch and slouching his shoulders. “So do any of you have alcohol?”  
  
Gemma noticed the questioning looks from her friends, and as hard as she tried to ignore them, their stares seemed to burn.  
  
“Everyone, this is Louis,” She grinned awkwardly. “Louis this is... Everyone.”  
  
Liam turned to him first, offering his hand, ”I’m Liam.”  
  
Zayn nodded next, waving curtly, “m’Zayn.”  
  
“So,” Niall added without looking up from his book, “Am I the only one who’s going to ask why you look like you’ve been crying in a soaking suit with a flower pinned to your jacket?”  
  
Louis buried his face in his hands and simply began to cry again. Gemma hadn’t remembered him being this emotional. Maybe she did remember, she just figured he would have grown up a bit since high school.  
  
Either way, she took a seat next to him, putting her arm around his shoulders, which were now rising and falling with his dramatic sobs.  
  
“That’s Niall,” Gemma laughed nervously, “By the way.”  
  
She looked around at the rest of the guys, shrugging and silently asking what she should do.  
  
Everyone shrugged and awkwardly and looked around for something else to focus on. Zayn stood up and walked over to the counter, because helping Harry close the cafe sounded much better than to listen to Gemma’s friend cry about something he didn’t care about.  
  
“Harry,” Zayn said, joining his friend behind the counter, “What can I do to help?”  
  
Harry shook his head while wiping down the cappuccino machine, “Nothing, mate. I’ve got it.”  
  
Zayn shrugged and poured himself another cup of coffee instead, “Alright, well I’m going to pretend I’m helping then. I can’t take the blubbering over there.”  
  
Harry glanced up and tried to seem disinterested, “Yeah, he’s always been one for the dramatics.”  
  
“Always, yeah?” Zayn raised an eyebrow knowingly.  
  
“Piss off,” Harry groaned. “He was best friends with my sister in high school. I was forced to be around him quite a bit.”  
  
“Forced,” Zayn hummed. “Right. I could see your oogling gaze from the London Eye if I wanted to.”  
  
“Then go to the London Eye for all I care,” Harry scoffed, turning the machines off.  
  
“Don’t get like that,” Zayn cooed as Harry blushed, glancing up at his sister comforting her friend. Her gorgeous, lovely friend that he honestly hadn’t stopped thinking about. “Awww, someone has a crush!”  
  
Harry whipped the damp towel he had been using against Zayn’s thigh and glared at him as he began to cash out the register.  
  
“Well, that fucking hurt,” Zayn hissed, rubbing his leg.  
  
“Learn how to mind your own business,” Harry shrugged. “Then, I won’t resort to physical violence.”  
  
“Whatever,” Zayn groaned, “It’s not my fault you’re in puppy love.”  
  
Harry gave him a warning glance, “Get out of here, mate.”  
  
Zayn threw his hands up in defense, laughing as Harry reached for a fork, “Absolutely, I’ll leave before you stab me with a fork. By the way, I think lover boy wants a cuppa.”  
  
Harry rolled his eyes and wiped down the rest of the counter, looking up to check on how many other customers are still in the cafe.  
  
Zayn took his own mug and joined the rest of the group again.  
  
“Lou, dear,” Gemma consoled, “You really just left?”  
  
Louis massaged his temples and nodded slowly, “I couldn’t go through with it, Gem. I’m sorry, I should have called you before just showing up-“  
  
“No!” Gemma interrupted, “You’re welcome to come see me, hon. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now.”  
  
“How _I’m_ feeling?” Louis scoffed, “I can’t imagine how he’s feeling. I’m such an absolute tool.”  
  
“No,” Liam retorted, “Don’t worry about that. You’ve got to do what’s good for you.”  
  
“What did I miss?” Zayn asked nonchalantly, sipping on his coffee.  
  
Gemma glared at him and huffed a sigh. Louis shook his head, “No, it’s alright. I um, I left my own wedding. Like, I just left. I got in my fucking car and left. I’m such a prick!”  
  
“Wow,” Zayn nodded, “You are a prick.”  
  
Gemma leaned forward and smacked him on the leg, “Shut the hell up.”  
  
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Zayn seethed. “You and your brother are a violent bunch today.”  
  
“He’s right,” Louis shrugged. “I deserve it. I just- I don’t know what to do now. My dad’s not going to support me now, and I can never show my face in that town ever again.”  
  
Gemma looked around at the groups expectant faces. Harry was walking up, wiping one hand on the towel slung over his shoulder, holding a mug in his other.  
  
“So,” Harry piped in shyly, “What happened?”  
  
Gemma threw her head back against the couch cushions and groaned, “Can you all just shut up?”  
  
Zayn nudged Harry’s side from where he was standing, “So, he left his fiancé at the altar and just came here. He’s embarrassed and his dad like hates him now.”  
  
Louis rolled his eyes this time, “That sums it up nicely. Thank you... Whatever your name is.”  
  
“Zayn,” he responded, unfazed by Louis’ sarcasm.  
  
“Right,” Louis sighed, turning to Gemma. “Anyway, is there anyway I could... Stay with you for a little bit?”  
  
Gemma’s eyes widened and she bit her lip uncomfortably, “Of course! You can stay as long as you’d like.”  
  
Louis pulled her into a hug, “Thank you so much, Gems. I knew I could count on you, love. I’ll get a job in no time and I’ll be out of your hair.”  
  
“Oh, you need a job?” Niall sat up, finally closing his book, “What do you do?”  
  
Louis shrugged, thanking Harry as he handed him a cup of tea, “I don’t know. I’ve never worked a day in my life.”  
  
Everyone looked around at each other as Louis was taking a sip, minds completely boggled.  
  
“You’ve never worked?” Niall asked, mind obviously blown.  
  
“No, me dad took care of me, and then it was Nick,” Louis shrugged as if that were completely normal for a twenty-five year old man to say.  
  
“Well,” Gemma piped in, hoping to save Louis from her other friends’ judging looks, “We’ll figure it out, darling. Let’s just get you upstairs for now, yeah?”  
  
Louis nodded, holding his cup up to Harry, “Do I need to leave this here?”  
  
Harry shook his head, “Nah, I’ll bring it back tomorrow. I’ll lock up and meet you all upstairs.”  
  
Everyone nodded and left the now empty cafe. Zayn stayed back with Harry, helping him clean the last few cups.  
  
“I can already tell,” Zayn chuckled, “It’s going to be a lot of fun watching you be flustered all the time.”  
  
Harry huffed and put the last cup in the cupboard, “Get off it, mate. He’ll get a job and be out of here for good, never to think of me again.”  
  
“Yeah right, he’s the textbook definition of dependent, and your sister indulges it,” Zayn shook his head. “No, he’s going to be around for a very long time.”  
  
Harry knew that too, but he was in a bit of self-denial.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on [tumblr](http://www.harryisproudoflouis.tumblr.com) , and remember to put requests in my ask if you have any ideas!! :) please comment and leave kudos if you're enjoying the series.


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